Puffed sleeve ironer



Nov. 14, 1961 B. v. ROBINSON PUFFED SLEEVE IRONER Filed Feb. 2, 1959 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,008,252 p PUFFED SLEEVE IRONER Beatrice V. Robinson, 4905 Kathryn Circle SE., Albuquerque, N. Mex. Filed Feb. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 790,450 2 Claims. (Cl. 38-141) The present invention relates to a device for facili-tatiug the ironing of clothing, and more especially for ironing puffed sleeves.

It is time consuming and diicult to satisfactorily iron puffed sleeves on womens, andv especially smalll girls, blouses. It is difficult to iron such puffed sleeves circum-v ferentially without creases or wrinkles, and it is also diflicult to iron gathered material at lthe neck ofthe blouse wrinklefree. Various types of devices have been developed heretofore to facilitate the ironing of sleeves on clothing. To applicants knowledge, the item heretofore generally marketed and used tov any substantial extent for the ironing of puffed sleeves, or cooks caps or other like articles having substantial gathering, is a small; table version of an ironing board. 'This comprises a base and a support extending vertically from 'the base, with a small size ironing board mounted in cantilever fashion on the support at its larger end so that an object -like a sleeve can be inserted over its smaller end for ironing. However, such a small sleeve ironing board is not fully satisfactory for Ithe ironing of puffed sleeves, especially on childrens blouses, When the sleeve is inserted over the board from the shoulder end, it is diicult to satisfactorily iron the neck of the sleeve without Wrinkles or creases because ofthe m-any gatherings. The sleeve cannot be slipped over the board from the arm end because the gathered neck opening is too small. Also ironing of the sleeve with such a board -is somewhat awkward and quite time consuming, as the blouse must in effect be rotated around the board so that different sections can be successively -ironed, and care must be taken not to iron in creases. The foregoing problems are especially accentuated when ironing puffed sleeves on a dress or blouse for a small child. The present tedious, time consuming and inecient ways of ironing puffed sleeves discourages their use by fastidious persons unwilling to overlook creases and wrinkles which are diicult to eliminate by ironing with devices heretofore available.

The primary object ofthe present invention is to provide a new improved puffed sleeve ironer device which makes it possible to easily and quickly iron puffed sleeves, cooks caps, and like articles of clothing having substantial gathering of material, in a perfect shell Without creases or wrinkles.

It is a related object of the present invention to provide such a new improved .puffed sleeve ironer device which is of relatively simple, but very ecient construe` tion, whereby it can be economically made and sold at relatively low price so that it is readily marketable in a highly competitive eld. It is still another object of the present invention yto provide such an improved puffed sleeve ironer, which the ordinary housewife can learn to use with a minimum of instruction, and with minimum inconvenience. It is a further object to provide such an improved puffed sleeve ironer which, while of simplied economical design embodies a construction that fully protects the user of ythe device against possible burns from the iron. It is also an object of this invention to provide such an improved pulfed sleeve ironer which can be easily kept clean, thereby eliminating soiling of clothing during ironing.

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following ICC description thereof and the appended claims, with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE l is a perspective view of the center core of the puffed -sleeve ironer according to thev present invention;

FIGURE 2- is a like perspective view showing the center core of the yironer device with a strip of padding being wrapped about it;

FIGURE 3 is a like perspective view showing the center core, padding wrapped around it, and means for securing the padding in position;

FIGURE 4 is a like perspective view showing the next step in the makingy of the puffed sleeve ironer of ythe present invention, illustrating how the outer cover is applied;

FIGURE 5 shows the finished puffed sleeve `ironer according to the present invention; and

'FIGURE 6zis a vertical cross-section view along line 6-6 in FIGURE 5, showing the cross-sectionall details of the construction of the finished puffed sleeve ironer; with 4a removable -outer cover also shown.

Referring now to the drawings, the puffed sleeve ironer of the present invention is therein generally indicated by the numeral 10. The ironer 10 comprises a central core `12, which in a typical embodiment would be about 2% long and about 21/2 in diameter, and can be a cardboard cylinder like that on which twine or yarn is wound, since this is a quite inexpensive material. However the core could also be made of some other suitable material such as suiciently heat resistant plastic.

Referring particularly to FIGURE 2, the surface of the cylindrical core 12 is covered with a layer of padding 14, which in a preferred embodiment is a strip of cotton batting. In a typical device, this cotton batting padding 14 would be about l thick, 2%" wide and 'approximately 20" long, and would be wound tightly around the center core 12.

Referring particularly to FIGURE 3, the cotton batting padding 14 .is secured to the core by a `series of cloth strips 16, preferably of Sli gauze, wound. around the cotton padding 14 and core 12 at spaced intervals of about 3A to l. Strips .16 are secured by suitable means, such as tackling at the ends with thread.

Referring especially to FIGURE 4, the puffed sleeve ironer 10 further comprises an enclosing cover -1=8, which is made of a piece of white stockinette material about 8 long. As shown in Ithe drawing, the stockinette cover is applied over the cylinder made up of core 12, pad 14, and strips 16, and the excess stockinlette covering material 18 is pulled through the center of the cylindrical core 12, with the ends then folded outwards and around the edge of the padded cylinder. The loose end of cover -18 is then suitably secured around the rim of the puffed sleeve ironer, as by -tacking stockinette material is used because of its stretchability and because it is seamless. This produces a finished puffed sleeve ironer according to the present invention as illustrated in FIGURE 5.

`Preferably an additional removable, washable stockinette cover 20 is applied to 'the puffed sleeve ironer 10 in like manner as permanent cover 18, and tacked in place along the rim in similar manner. This provides a convenient -means for keeping the puffed sleeve ironer 10 clean, thereby avoiding soiling of the clothing.

Operation-To use, the puffed sleeve ironer 10 is held by four fingers and inserted into ,the puffed sleeve and turned with a quick action along with the sleeve against a hot iron. -In this way, the puffed sleeve is ironed easily and quickly -in a perfect shell without creases or wrinkles. The puffed sleeve ironer can be inserted into the reduced neck of the sleeve, making it possible to easily and quickly iron the gathering at the sleeve neck with excellent results. It will be apparent that the puffed sleeve ironer 10 can also be usedffcr ironing cooks caps or any other article having gathering `of material with a reduced neck which cannot be easily ironed on a flat surface lor on conventional ironing boards or sleeve boards discussed above.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that applicant has provided a novel improved, but simplied and economical to make, and safe and easy to use -pued sleeve ironer device which (a) makes :it possible to easily and quickly iron -puiied sleeves wrinkle-free and crease-free, (b) eiectively solves the shortcomings of prior devices and methods for ironing such sleeves, especially on small size garments for children, and (c) otherwise accom- Vplishes the objects and advantages stated the introduction hereof,

The 'invention may be embodied in other specic forms Y without departing from the spirit or essential characterl istics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope ofthe invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing'descriph tion, and all changes which come `within the meaning and range of equivalency of Athe claims are therefore in tended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

l. kA tubular device for ironing puffed sleeves and like articles of cloth-ing comprising: a tubular core of rela- |tively rigid material, sufficiently rigid to withstand pressure applied with a hand liron for eective ironing; padding on said tubular core extending around the exterior thereof; a plurali-ty of strips of material extending longitudinally around the core and padding at circumferentially spaced intervals for retaining said `padding on said tubular core; and -a protective cover over said padding and strips of material; at least one end of said padded and covered tubular device being open, with the opening being at least suciently large so that the device can beg readily grasped at said open end. Y

2. A tubular ironing device as deiined in claim 1, wherein: said cover for the padding is seamless, and said device fur-ther comprises an additional removable cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent iNITED STATES PATENTS 2,3l4,498 Hoagland Mar. 23, 1943 2,556,815 Lovelace .Tune 12, 1951 2,810,219 Craig Oct. 2,2, l1957 2,823,471 Jennings Feb.v 18, 1958 

